Strangler Of Black Progress

August 25, 1985|By Green

For blacks, a lot has changed since Aug. 28, 1955 -- 30 years ago this week -- when Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black in Greenwood, Miss., was murdered because he whistled at a white woman. The murder ignited the civil rights movement. Now there are 3,000 black elected officials across the country and blacks are not barred from freedoms because of their color.

So everything's just great, right? Hardly. Take a look at black unemployment. Despite all the political and social gains for blacks, unemployment is still strangling progress.

In fact, black joblessness has gotten much worse since young Emmett Till was kidnapped, killed and dumped in the Tallahatchee River. Back then black unemployment was only at 8 percent compared with 3.9 percent for whites. Today, black unemployment is at 15 percent and rising, while white joblessness holds at 6.4 percent.

What's even more alarming is that had Emmett Till lived and had children, chances are they would be on the street rather than on the job. Joblessness among black youths nationwide is at an all-time high of 41 percent, compared with 16 percent for white teens.

The reasons for this frightful predicament are numerous and complex. Many black teen-agers lack basic learning skills, live in neighborhoods where there are few job opportunities, and lack the advantage of having parents who can call up a friend in business and get them a job.

So what can be done? We don't pretend to know the answers but it's becoming clear what doesn't work. Forget about most government job-training programs, for instance. Many of them, such as CETA, just didn't succeed. People were landing jobs but many weren't being trained so they could find work after the program ended.

Paying teen-agers less than the minimum wage isn't the answer either. Granted, that may result in more jobs for black teen-agers but it may displace just as many older blacks in those jobs now. That would accomplish nothing. It would make things worse, in fact, because the total amount of dollars going into black households would drop.

Forget about government help and regulations for a minute. There are some things going on in the black community itself that could ease the problem. Interestingly, things have come full circle. It's the black churches, which also provided the leadership in the black community 30 years ago, that now have come forth with some fresh ideas.

What's happening is that many are taking it upon themselves to help reduce black unemployment by setting up their own educational programs. They are creating many job opportunities within the churches as well.

In Washington, D.C., for example, Shiloh Baptist Church has built a $4 million complex, which includes an educational wing, restaurant and recreational building. The church employs nearly 100 people and helps thousands of others with such things as learning how to apply for jobs.

In Orlando, Gorman Memorial Nazarene Church in predominantly black Washington Shores has a similar facility on the drawing board, and so has a Fort Lauderdale black Baptist church.

These efforts won't solve the black unemployment problem, but they will make a difference and at the same time promote self-sufficiency among blacks. That's the type of thing that's needed so that when the 40th anniversary of Emmett Till's death rolls around, there will be no ambivalence about black progress.